title: Declines in physical performance by sex and age among nondisabled community-dwelling older Japanese during a 6-year period.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have examined whether declines over time in hand-grip strength (HGS) and fast walking speed (FWS) differ by sex and age among non-Western community-dwelling older adults. This study aimed to quantify changes in HGS and FWS over the 6-year period from 1994 to 2000 and examine whether these changes differed by sex and baseline age among older individuals in a Japanese community.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a community-based prospective cohort study. The participants were 513 nondisabled men and women aged 67 to 91 years at the 1994 survey. Independent variables regarding time since baseline, in addition to various time-dependent and time-independent covariates, were obtained in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. The outcome variables were HGS and FWS assessed at each survey. All data on independent and dependent variables that were collected at each survey were simultaneously analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The linear mixed-effects model revealed significant declines in both HGS (-0.70 kg/year, P < 0.001) and FWS (-0.027 m/sec/year, P < 0.001) among nondisabled older participants who had analyzable data in any survey during the 6-year period. Sex was significantly associated with the rate of decline in HGS (P < 0.001), but not FWS (P = 0.211).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this analysis of nondisabled older Japanese, a mixed-effects model confirmed a significant effect of aging on declines in HGS and FWS and showed that men had a significantly steeper decline in HGS than did women during a 6-year period.
authors.affiliation: Kyoto University School of Public Health, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. tatsuro.ishizaki@gmail.com
authors.forename: Tatsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishizaki
authors.forename: Taketo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furuna
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwasa
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Hideyo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumagai
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*